Monthly Archives: October 2017

I’m really excited about the Nutiva Organic Liquid Coconut Oil Garlic I used to make these Sweet Potato Fries with Tikka Masala Sauce! What I really like about this new coconut oil is that it stays liquid and is extracted from organic coconuts and has a neutral flavor. Unlike many non-organic coconut oils that utilize harsh chemical solvents such as hexane, Nutiva uses a certified organic process to remove the fats that remain solid at room temperature. It’s perfect in salads, sautéing, coffee, baking, and in smoothies!

I love roasting vegetables, especially sweet potatoes. Recently, to spice up my sweet potato fries a bit, I decided to make a rich creamy sauce to compliment my favorite roasted potato. I thought you might enjoy the recipe, so here it is. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Place in oven for an additional 20 minutes or until crisp. It won’t be super crispy. Be careful to watch for burning. Remove from oven when desired crispness is reached.

While sweet potatoes are roasting, make tikka masalas sauce

Tikka Masala Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight

1 ½ cups filtered water

1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed (optional)

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets (optional)

20 crimini mushrooms, cut into quarters (optional)

cooking spray, as needed

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp grated ginger

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground garam masala

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp Nutiva Organic Liquid Coconut Oil

½ onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp tomato paste

3 cardamom pods

1 dried arbol chile (can substitute with ½ tsp red pepper flakes)

filtered water or vegetable stock, as needed

1 14oz. can whole peeled tomatoes

1/3 cup cilantro (including stems), chopped

Directions

Soak cashews in filtered water overnight in refrigerator.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove peas from freezer and leave them out at room temperature to thaw.

Wash and cut cauliflower into florets.

Clean mushrooms and cut them into fourths.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Place the mushrooms and cauliflower on the baking sheet, spreading them evenly in one layer, and sprinkle with 1/8 tsp of salt (optional), and 1/8 tsp of freshly ground black pepper. Spray the vegetables quickly with cooking spray and place them in the oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, continue with the rest of the directions as follows.

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and place them in a blender with 1 ½ cups of filtered water.

Make the cashew cream. Blend on high until it becomes a cream-like consistency. Set aside.

Make the spice mixture. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, cumin, and ½ tsp sea salt. Stir to combine and set aside.

Heat a large, 3-quart saucepot over medium heat. Add oil, wait 20 seconds, then add the onion, tomato paste, cardamom pods, and arbol chile until the tomato paste is darkened and the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. If the onions are not yet translucent but the bottom of the pan starts getting browned bits, add a little filtered water or vegetable stock to deglaze and scrape the bits that are sticking to the bottom of the pan. Make sure it doesn’t burn. Add about 2 Tbsp or more at a time.

Add the spice mixture and stir well for 1 minute.

Add the canned tomatoes and their juices and mash, break apart the whole tomatoes with your cooking utensil. I use a silicone spatula. Mix well and make sure to scrape any browned bits at the bottom of the saucepan.

Add the cashew cream and mix.

Add the cauliflower, mushrooms and cilantro, and mix.

Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring often and scraping any browned bits until the sauce thickens for about 8-10 minutes.

Assemble

Place fries on a plate and pour sauce over and top with fresh cilantro. Serve immediately.

When I was a kid and my mom gave me a persimmon to try for the very first time, I was surprised it didn’t taste like a tomato, as persimmons very much resemble tomatoes. As I observed closely, there were specks of brown in the fruit—almost as if God/theUniverse had sprinkled the fruit with cinnamon and it was naturally occurring, embedded into the fruit. Hence, my initial childhood conclusion that cinnamon derived from per”cinnamon”s—hello, it’s in the name, duh! As I grew perplexed and analyzed that it was probably a silly idea since we had cinnamon sticks to stir hot apple ciders and Mexican hot chocolates with, and we actually had to ground cinnamon sticks to add into recipes I thought, “what a coincidence” and how beautiful of God to just sprinkle fruit with cinnamon and make a star shape design for us to see (when slicing the fruit horizontally). I just left it at that—a coincidence and viewed them as two separate things. Besides, how in the world would one be able to extract specks of cinnamon from the persimmons. Oh silly, silly me!

Fast forward 30 years when I had my twin nephews try persimmons for the first time, I told them the story I just shared with you, and they asked where cinnamon came from. Since I never looked it up, I turned to one of my fave instructional learning tools, @youtube 🙊🙈😁, and we learned that cinnamon is made from the barks of trees, rolled up by people in a forest (well at least the people in a forest in the video we watched). It’s a very timely process and I could not believe how much effort it takes to make and how cheap and available it is to us. I will never look at cinnamon and persimmons the same again, especially knowing now that they are mutually exclusive.

Moving on, although persimmons and cinnamon are both in season right now, this salad only contains persimmons. It’s a family and friend favorite this time of year. Make it for the holidays, for your parents when they come to visit, for a date, or treat yourself. It is super super simple, and contains the following ingredients: arugula, ripened and crisp persimmons, dates, shallots, #marconaalmonds, an easy soft cashew cheese, #saba, and sea salt and pepper.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it!

Arugula and Persimmon Salad

Servings: 4-6

Prep Time: 20 minutes (not counting the time it takes to make the cheese. With cheese, one day.)

5. In a bowl, place the super ripe and juicy persimmon flesh. Stir it up a bit as if you are going to use it as a sauce. Using a spoon, in a circular motion, add the persimmon flesh as you would a dressing.

Happy Fall! With chillier weather, longer hours at work, and lots of garbanzo bean flour at my disposal, I was inspired to make a savory dish with warming spices to soothe and comfort my soul and palate. After a few attempts with my favorite Indian spices, I came up with a recipe I am very excited to share with you. Since I made this savory pancake, I have played around with other versions, and they keep getting better, so stay tuned for more!

You can find garbanzo bean flour at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and even Besan (chickpea) flour for a lot less at Indian spice stores. The spices used are found at pretty much any large grocery store, but they are the most inexpensive again at Indian spice stores.

Enjoy this for lunch, as snack, for dinner with a side salad, or pack it to-go for a picnic or as a dish you take to a potluck. Once you make this once, you’ll be glad you did because it is so simple and satisfying.

I hope you enjoy this easy recipe. Please let me know what you think, and tag me in your social media posts, also use hashtag, #YvonnesVeganKitchen so I can share with everyone!

Savory Indian Pancake

Serves 2-4

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Dry:

2 cups garbanzo bean flour

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking powder

Wet:

2 cups vegetable stock or filtered water

1 heaping cup steamed and mashed sweet potato

2 Tbsp tomato paste or pasta sauce

Other ingredients:

3/4 cup red onion, chopped

3/4 cup cauliflower, chopped

handful or two of mixed greens with carrot shreds (I buy a mix at Trader Joes), optional

2 Tbsp grapeseed or coconut oil for cooking

Directions

1. Steam a sweet potato and mash it with skin on (extra fiber)

2. In a medium-sized bowl, add all the dry ingredients and whisk together.

3. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add all the wet ingredients and stir the wet ingredients together, then stir it in with the dry ingredients.

4. Add the remaining ingredients, not including mixed greens and carrots.

5. Either make 1 pancake at a time or take 2 8″-10″ non-stick pans or griddles and place on stove top over medium heat. Once the pan is heated, add a Tbsp or more of oil. You can also try using non-stick cooking spray. Pour half the mixture into each pan and spread it evenly in a circular shape, like a pancake. Add a handful of mixed greens with carrot shreds, and cover with a lid. The lid will help cook the top portion of the pancake.

6. After about 3-4 minutes, check on the pancake using a spatula. It’s ready to flip once the bottom of the pancake has browned. Before flipping, cut the pancake into 4 segments. Once cut, flip each piece separately. Alternatively, you can make little pancakes to flip individually.

Click

to watch me flip it so as to not break it.

7. Once flipped, cook until the other side browned. And voila, it is done!

8. Serve with a side salad or soup, or eat it on its own. You can even eat these as hamburger patties or place them in wraps!

Hope you enjoy! If you make this recipe, please let me know how it turned out! Happy eating!!!